Rest - Day 1

This week's topic in print: Download Rest

As I’ve mentioned in the previous few blog posts, my family has been really tired lately. Bill and I are working really hard. Our finances have been terribly strained, and we are doing all we can. My husband words two jobs and has a side business. I have a job and a couple of things going on the side….and those aren’t even the most important things to us. We have four kids! And ministry in our community! Our days are long and hard, and there is never enough time for anything. I know many of you share that same kind of burden. My family got away last weekend for some rest, and it made a world of difference in my perspective, my love for my family, and my outlook on life.

I got a good laugh this week when I pulled out an old journal to use and found an entry from a summer day, six years ago. At the time, my kids were 7, 4, 2, and 6 months. We were living in that little 860 square foot Arkansas house:

June 29, 2004

Yesterday was one of those days that you go to bed further behind than when you got up, the kind where if followed around with a video camera, you’d be sure to land some air time on a favorite talk show, “Worst Days Caught on Tape” - or the like. Things were going reasonably well most of the day – typical chores, diapers, reading lessons, etc. I hosed the boys down from the mud adventures a few times. I began “potty training” with Ian - which so far is basically “poop and pee in the underwear” day. Dinner was almost ready, Bill was mowing when Hayden came crawling into the kitchen tracking something behind him. It took a split second to realize it was the paint I’d been using in the hall earlier. “But I put it away!” I thought to myself. But I hadn’t hammered down the lid because I was going to do more later. An entire gallon dumped into the living room carpet. I ran outside with my “butterscotch” coated baby and hollored to my seven year old Clayton to “Get dad! Help!” Then rushed to the tub to clean him up. He didn’t cry a bit until I frantically began pulling his clothes off and scrubbing him down. Bill came running in. We caught boiling over pots and cleaned the kitchen vinyl, scrubbed some of the carpet and scooped up what paint we could salvage. Most of the carpet is a loss- like a heavily absorbed sponge that will forever ooze yellow mirk. After dinner I went to Walmart to look for medicine for Hayden’s thrush (since the pharmacies were already closed). They didn’t have any, so I thought I’d at least get the numbers for the mailbox which the checker let Riley carry to the car earlier – and he apparently did not take them to the van. Walmart donation! Hayden took a nice nap on the way there, though, so he was up until 10 o’clock. I went to bed leaving newspapers piled ina muddy bathroom, and dishes piled in the sink. I got more sleep than normal, though, last night and got to work this morning. Today has been better – most because I’ve spent some time in the word ( Hebrews 3). Verse six was very encouraging to me to hold on to my public openness of speech concerning the hope we have. I cleaned the bathroom and kitchen, cut my hair, and of course hosed the boys down after their mud adventures, changed diapers, cleaned messy underwear, did some laundry, etc. Life goes on!

Moms, we work hard! Don’t we? As a mom, I’m always hoping for rest. The naps our kids scream about sound better to me than dessert! What I wouldn’t give for one. My body gets tired, and my spirit does to.

This week our pastor was reminding us of the plan God had from the very beginning for us to take time to rest.

"By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done." Genesis 2:2-3

God didn’t rest because He was tired and needed rest. The Scripture is clear that God is always at work –that He is holding the world together, and it is a full time job. But He wanted to model rest to us because He knew we would need it.

In Exodus, He told the people”

“You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but on the seventh day you must stop working. This gives your ox and your donkey a chance to rest. It also allows your slaves and the foreigners living among you to be refreshed. Exodus 23:12

As a mom – especially when I was home with preschoolers all day – it seems like every day is consumed with ordinary work. It takes a lot of effort to prepare a day that I don’t have to do ordinary work. I can’t hire a maid for the day to do my job. But I’ve learned that it absolutely worth it to pick a day that I call rest day. It is worth it to cook two days of meals the day before, keep the calendar clear, and spend all that “chore time” resting and spending time in the word. Yes, I still have to dole out band-aids and settle arguments, but I just decide that I won’t be cleaning or doing laundry. I need a day to rest.

That may look different for every family. You might get up on Sundays and go to church and then come home and rest for the afternoon. But you might be on staff at a church where Sunday is your biggest work day, and you have to find another day to rest. But whatever it looks like for you, find a day to rest! You won’t regret it!!